A good, cheap electric guitar

[pflash4001]

A friend of mine got an SX Jazz Bass knockoff...he gigged it on the night he got it. He wanted to burn it by the end of the night. Intonation was off up and down the neck. Hardware was shoddy, totally unimpressed with it. He brought it over to my house later so we could do a proper set up on it, but it seemed the frets were way off...we never managed to get it intonated properly. About 10 years ago I bought a telecaster shaped Yamaha Pacifica brand new at GC for about $150 tax included out the door. I wanted something decent and inexpensive. Yamaha, Ibanez, and Squier (lately) cover that pretty well.

[curbowkid]

I had the same experience ^ except mine came with a broken saddle height screw and warped neck

[ntenny]

Originally Posted by Richland123

I bought my son a really nice Epiphone SG model that is amazing for the price.

I bought myself one of those. The bolt-on version is usually under US$200, the lowest-spec set-neck version under US$300. I got the bolt-on and it's quite acceptable as a general messing-around guitar.

The LTDs I've handled have felt good, and I've never played more than a couple of Squiers but they seemed fine for the price point.

In general, I think we live in a golden age of cheap guitars. I'm old enough to remember some REALLY REALLY BAD student instruments from the 1970s and 1980s, and it just blows me away what you can get for a couple of hundred bucks now.

-NT

[michael_atw]

You can get a 90's or 2000's Fender MIM Standard for $200-$250 every and any day of the week. Some colors carry premiums but the average is easily this range. Fender made HSS Standards (I just bought one for about $300 last week - 1994 Special Edition with transparent blonde finish). They are just as easy to find and just as cheap. Squier "black label" models from the mid-90's can often be had for less than $200 and have equal quality with MIMs (except for cheaper hardware and crappy pots).

[basscooker]

i'm impressed with my daughter's ibanez mikro. and it was cheap. i did take it right to a guy to set it up straight out of the box, tho. my epi lp is pretty nice, too after a pro set it up, under 200 new.

[curbowkid]

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Guitar,U...e-2&o=1&ipp=25

Youre welcome

[hover]

Originally Posted by curbowkid

I had the same experience ^ except mine came with a broken saddle height screw and warped neck

Wow, and I had the exact opposite experience, with good sound, pretty decent playablity (which took 5 minutes to dial in the rest of the way), and made 450 bucks with it the day after it was shipped to me, at a festival gig. Paid for it 3.5 times over...Lucky!

[pflash4001]

Originally Posted by hover

Wow, and I had the exact opposite experience, with good sound, pretty decent playablity (which took 5 minutes to dial in the rest of the way), and made 450 bucks with it the day after it was shipped to me, at a festival gig. Paid for it 3.5 times over...Lucky!

Not here...that bass seriously was close to ending up in a barbecue pit that night. I think he still has it so we can try to pop the frets out and convert it to fret less...figures he can't screw it up any worse than it already is. I didn't like what I saw in it, but I didn't get to play it since he's a lefty and I'm not. I did sound for them that night and I remember constantly going up and asking him to recheck his tuning and the open strings were dead on using my Boss TU-2. Anywhere past the 3rd fret and the intonation was waaaay off....to the op...have you tried pawn shops? You may get lucky...a few years ago I picked up a Rickenbacker 4001 for $180...those deals are few and far between, but they're out there.

[ric4682]

I would definitely check out the Guitar Fetish website and look at their Xaviere guitars. This one seems right up your alley. Or This one. Xaviere guitars are a VERY guitar for the money. I would steer away from strat-style guitars if you're looking for versatility as cheap ones always seem to have a thin or harsh tone that can't be tamed, IME. That makes for fake sounding or lower quality heavy tones. Again, just IME. SG-style guitars are the most versatile guitars I've ever used as they don't have the HUGE-ness of Les Pauls or the brightness of Fenders. They're a solid compromise.

Hope this helps!

[Mitchinboxer]

You should get a Yamaha Pacifica! They are insanely cheap, and they really pull off the strat sound. In fact, I ABed mine with a brand new Mexican strat and found it to be far superior.

[lethargytartare]

Buy pretty much any used Ibanez or Fender off craigslist -- 100-150. That used link above -- you can get some epiphones off there for $50...good lord...I've gotten solid playing Ibas for as cheap as $40-60. Then iInvest in some nicer pickups -- 70-150. Get a nice pro setup, fret dress -- 50-70.

Hunting around for decent tone in cheap guitars, you'll end up with a wide selection of very mediocre tones. Invest in some nice pickups, and you'll be WAY better off tone-wise. For my money, the most important things are neck and pickups. A good setup can make pretty much any entry-level guitar play great, and a good set of pups will make it sound better than any other entry-level guitar. And really, LOTS of cheap guitars need a good setup off the shelf anyway...

All the more so in light of your interests -- the music you're leaning towards doesn't really seem to need a vintage woody tone, so you're gonna get most of your practical sound range from effects, so upgraded pickups on a used entry-level guitar would be my advice.

Rondos -- not sure what this means: "the lines in my budget range don't have a very good low tone that I want." There are 150 guitars over there in your price range -- I guarantee you some have great low tone (I had an AL and it could chunk just fine)...but it all goes back to what I said earlier -- trying to get everything you want out of an entry level guitar is really hit or miss -- invest directly in pups and you'll be assured of ending up with better tone.

good luck, man!
ltt

[oniman7]

Hey guys,

ended up getting one for Christmas. Got an ESP H330-NT in Snow White for an awesome price of $250 new off of Musician's Friend, as well as the Blackstar HT-1R. It needs a set up after flying from the midwest to Florida's 70 degree weather, but I'm incredibly happy with it.

Happy Holidays!

[oniman7]

Also, I want a 7 string once I get really comfortable on 6 and will probably be ordering from Rondo Music and swapping pups to get the sound I want. Thanks again for the advice everybody.

[Massimo636]

Gonna have to say a used Fender MIM Strat for $300 or a Classic Vibe Squier strat for even less are both excellent choices. (But the CV Squier is single coil bridge I believe)

[zachoff]

I got a Squier '72 Tele for $180, replaced the pickups, pots and wiring, and had it set up by a shop pro and it's awesome. All told, it was less than $300. Pickups were the humbucker fit Kent Armstrong P-90s.

[Meremortal]

For composing you're better off with an acoustic guitar. As for cheap electrics there are strat sounds and there are Paul sounds and most everything else is a variation of those two. (In rock type music anyway)

The CV Squier strat is outstanding and the Epiphone Les Paul is also very good. Going too much cheaper wouldn't be worth it. IMO

[zachoff]

I know you got one already, but the higher-end Agile Les Paul copies are also really nice. My old guitar player had one and liked it more than his Gibson SG.

[oniman7]

Originally Posted by zachoff

I know you got one already, but the higher-end Agile Les Paul copies are also really nice. My old guitar player had one and liked it more than his Gibson SG.

My guitar player had one and we used it on the studio because it had better sound than the house Gibson